EP by Michael James Tapscott

5 tracks |15:17 run time

Released 12/02/2022

Available on: Digital, Streaming

Michael James Tapscott is a San Francisco Bay Area based musician, who since 2004 has recorded and performed as Odawas, China, More Animals of the Arctic, Pacific Walker, and under his own name. 

Michael, the Worst is his new EP, featuring 5 songs that draw upon loner folk, ambient country, atmospheric soundtracks, and new age music. Serving to tie together his musical output of the past decade, the EP pays homage to his back catalog – including reimagined versions of two China songs (“Marnie Reprise” and “Honey Trap Reprise”); one unreleased China song (“Michael, the Worst”); and 2 new solo songs (“Luxembourg Gardens” and “Evacuation City”). The EP features contributions from Jeff Moller, Raphi Gottesman, Josh Housh, Jacob Aranda, and producer David Glasebrook.

Two of the songs are instrumentals; “Marnie Reprise” and “Honey Trap Reprise”, draw upon the soundtracks of Popol Vuh and Angelo Badalamenti, the devotional music of Alice Coltrane, and the shimmering guitar of early Michael Hedges. Meanwhile, the other three songs combine folk-rock melodies and textures with lyrics that play out like fragments of memories half remembered, half forgotten; “Luxembourg Gardens” was inspired by Les Miserables, “Evacuation City” came to him in a dream, and “Michael, the Worst” is a humiliating admission.

Somebody once told Michael that he wasn’t as experimental as he thought he was, maybe it’s a fair assessment. He’s not a virtuosic instrumentalist, his compositions are linear and often mathematically correct; he’s the type of student who skimmed White and Strunk’s The Elements of Style and thought, “I get it.” The experiment is in the living document that trails behind him, a catalog of varied personas and rotating collaborators. Michael, the Worst is another chapter, look for the next one on Royal Oakie in 2023.